Tuesday, February 28, 2006

http://unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=15790Do "Those People" not know they will be fired upon? The men and women charged with securing the White House will not hesitate to use deadly force. It is their job. It is what they train for. They are ready.Someone has observed this action will present an excellent opportunity to "thin the herd". The idocy of the Left remains astounding! If, however, they are determined to give their lives in a useless act of self centered desperation, then I am certain, the men and women of the White House security detail will be more than willing to accomodate them. Any survivors should be jailed and tried for Sedition and thrown back in jail for 20 years. That should give them time to reflect on how "bad" they had it outside! Lunacy just isn't strong enough to describe this utter lack of sanity. In the words of the President they love to hate: "Bring it on!"I do hope this is televised! Longstreet

A couple of years ago, Former Democrat Governor of Colorado, Richard Lamm, made these remarks at an Immigration/Overpopulation Conference in Washington, DC. It is reported that when Gov. Lamm ended his remarks … there was no applause. Everyone in the room was chilled to the bone, by the truth, as if cold water had suddenly been thrown into their faces.

What did Gov. Lamm say? Read it for yourselves below:"I HAVE A PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA."RICHARD D. LAMM

I HAVE A SECRET PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. IF YOU BELIEVE, AS MANY DO, THAT AMERICA IS TOO SMUG, TOO WHITE BREAD, TOO SELF-SATISFIED, TOO RICH, LETS DESTROY AMERICA. IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO DO. HISTORY SHOWS THAT NATIONS ARE MORE FRAGILE THAN THEIR CITIZENS THINK. NO NATION IN HISTORY HAS SURVIVED THE RAVAGES OF TIME. ARNOLD TOYNBEE OBSERVED THAT ALL GREAT CIVILIZATIONS RISE AND THEY ALL FALL, AND THAT "AN AUTOPSY OF HISTORY WOULD SHOW THAT ALL GREAT NATIONS COMMIT SUICIDE." HERE IS MY PLAN: I. WE MUST FIRST MAKE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY. HISTORY SHOWS, IN MY OPINION, THAT NO NATION CAN SURVIVE THE TENSION, CONFLICT, AND ANTAGONISM OF TWO COMPETING LANGUAGES AND CULTURES. IT IS A BLESSING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE BILINGUAL; IT IS A CURSE FOR A SOCIETY TO BE BILINGUAL. ONE SCHOLAR, SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET, PUT IT THIS WAY:THE HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL AND BICULTURAL SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT ASSIMILATE ARE HISTORIES OF TURMOIL, TENSION, AND TRAGEDY. CANADA, BELGIUM, MALAYSIA, LEBANON-ALL FACE CRISES OF NATIONAL EXISTENCE IN WHICH MINORITIES PRESS FOR AUTONOMY, IF NOT INDEPENDENCE. PAKISTAN AND CYPRUS HAVE DIVIDED. NIGERIA SUPPRESSED AN ETHNIC REBELLION. FRANCE FACES DIFFICULTIES WITH ITS BASQUES, BRETONS, AND CORSICANS. II. I WOULD THEN INVENT "MULTICULTURALISM" AND ENCOURAGE IMMIGRANTS TO MAINTAIN THEIR OWN CULTURE. I WOULD MAKE IT AN ARTICLE OF BELIEF THAT ALL CULTURES ARE EQUAL: THAT THERE ARE NO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES THAT ARE IMPORTANT. I WOULD DECLARE IT AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT THE BLACK AND HISPANIC DROPOUT RATE IS ONLY DUE TO PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION BY THE MAJORITY. EVERY OTHER EXPLANATION IS OUT-OF-BOUNDS.

III. WE CAN MAKE THE UNITED STATES A "HISPANIC QUEBEC" WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT. THE KEY IS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY RATHER THAN UNITY. AS BENJAMIN SCHWARZ SAID IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY RECENTLY:...THE APPARENT SUCCESS OF OUR OWN MULTIETHNIC AND MULTICULTURAL EXPERIMENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED NOT BY TOLERANCE BUT BY HEGEMONY. WITHOUT THE DOMINANCE THAT ONCE DICTATED ETHNOCENTRICALLY, AND WHAT IT MEANT TO BE AN AMERICAN, WE ARE LEFT WITH ONLY TOLERANCE AND PLURALISM TO HOLD US TOGETHER.

I WOULD ENCOURAGE ALL IMMIGRANTS TO KEEP THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. I WOULD REPLACE THE MELTING POT METAPHOR WITH A SALAD BOWL METAPHOR. IT IS IMPORTANT TO INSURE THAT WE HAVE VARIOUS CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS LIVING IN AMERICA REINFORCING THEIR DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN AMERICANS, EMPHASIZING THEIR SIMILARITIES.

IV. HAVING DONE ALL THIS, I WOULD MAKE OUR FASTEST GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP THE LEAST EDUCATED - I WOULD ADD A SECOND UNDERCLASS, UNASSIMILATED, UNDEREDUCATED, AND ANTAGONISTIC TO OUR POPULATION. I WOULD HAVE THIS SECOND UNDERCLASS HAVE A 50% DROP OUT RATE FROM SCHOOL.

V. I WOULD THEN GET THE BIG FOUNDATIONS AND BIG BUSINESS TO GIVE THESE EFFORTS LOTS OF MONEY. I WOULD INVEST IN ETHNIC IDENTITY, AND I WOULD ESTABLISH THE CULT OF VICTIMOLOGY. I WOULD GET ALL MINORITIES TO THINK THEIR LACK OF SUCCESS WAS ALL THE FAULT OF THE MAJORITY - I WOULD START A GRIEVANCE INDUSTRY BLAMING ALL MINORITY FAILURE ON THE MAJORITY POPULATION.

VI. I WOULD ESTABLISH DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND PROMOTE DIVIDED LOYALTIES. I WOULD "CELEBRATE DIVERSITY." "DIVERSITY" IS A WONDERFULLY SEDUCTIVE WORD. IT STRESSES DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN COMMONALITIES. DIVERSE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE ARE MOSTLY ENGAGED IN HATING EACH OTHER-THAT IS, WHEN THEY ARE NOT KILLING EACH OTHER. A DIVERSE," PEACEFUL, OR STABLE SOCIETY IS AGAINST MOST HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. PEOPLE UNDERVALUE THE UNITY IT TAKES TO KEEP A NATION TOGETHER, AND WE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS MYOPIA. LOOK AT THE ANCIENT GREEKS.

DORF'S WORLD HISTORY TELLS US: THE GREEKS BELIEVED THAT THEY BELONGED TO THE SAME RACE; THEY POSSESSED A COMMON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE; AND THEY WORSHIPED THE SAME GODS. ALL GREECE TOOK PART IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN HONOR OF ZEUS AND ALL GREEKS VENERATED THE SHRINE OF APOLLO AT DELPHI. A COMMON ENEMY PERSIA THREATENED THEIR LIBERTY. YET, ALL OF THESE BONDS TOGETHER WERE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME TWO FACTORS . . . (LOCAL PATRIOTISM AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS THAT NURTURED POLITICAL DIVISIONS . . .)

IF WE CAN PUT THE EMPHASIS ON THE "PLURIBUS," INSTEAD OF THE "UNUM," WE CAN BALKANIZE AMERICA AS SURELY AS KOSOVO.

VII. THEN I WOULD PLACE ALL THESE SUBJECTS OFF LIMITS - MAKE IT TABOO TO TALK ABOUT. I WOULD FIND A WORD SIMILAR TO "HERETIC" IN THE 16TH CENTURY - THAT STOPPED DISCUSSION AND PARALYZED THINKING. WORDS LIKE "RACIST", "XENOPHOBE" THAT HALTS ARGUMENT AND CONVERSATION.

HAVING MADE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY, HAVING ESTABLISHED MULTICULTURALISM, HAVING THE LARGE FOUNDATIONS FUND THE DOCTRINE OF "VICTIMOLOGY", I WOULD NEXT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ENFORCE OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS. I WOULD DEVELOP A MANTRA - "THAT BECAUSE IMMIGRATION HAS BEEN GOOD FOR AMERICA, IT MUST ALWAYS BE GOOD." I WOULD MAKE EVERY INDIVIDUAL IMMIGRANT SYMPATRIC AND IGNORE THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT.

VIII. LASTLY, I WOULD CENSOR VICTOR HANSON DAVIS'S BOOK "MEXIFORNIA" — THIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS — IT EXPOSES MY PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. SO PLEASE, PLEASE — IF YOU FEEL THAT AMERICA DESERVES TO BE DESTROYED — PLEASE, PLEASE — DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! THIS GUY IS ON TO MY PLAN.

"THE SMART WAY TO KEEP PEOPLE PASSIVE AND OBEDIENT IS TO STRICTLY LIMIT THE SPECTRUM OF ACCEPTABLE OPINION, BUT ALLOW VERY LIVELY DEBATE WITHIN THAT SPECTRUM." — NOAM CHOMSKY, AMERICAN LINGUIST AND US MEDIA AND FOREIGN POLICY CRITIC.

(Both Governor Lamm and the writer of the e-mail misidentify the author of the book Mexifornia, whose correct name is Victor Davis Hanson.)

Monday, February 27, 2006

The Ports Management deal will eventually be allowed to proceed and the UAE company will get the contract and will manage the ports.

I have come to believe that is the way this debacle will shake out in the end.

The Congress may, or may not, have hearings. The Congress may, or may not, pass legislation to delay the contract until they can "investigate" more. (A "delay" has already been instituted by the UAE company.) If the Congress finds they absolutely must pass some sort of legislation to delay the sale, the President will veto the bill. In that event, the Congress will "over ride" the President’s veto and there will be a few “show” hearings and, in a few weeks, the deal will be allowed to slip quietly to fruition. This is politics, folks.

You see, I look at Congress and I just cannot believe those people I see ranting and raving, on both sides of the aisle, about what a danger to our security this deal is, are serious! I just don’t believe it. I think they see this whole thing in the light of politics… period!

The Democrats have the labor unions to answer to if they don’t raise Cain. The Republicans have us conservatives to answer to if they don’t. But when all the smoke clears away, I see nothing but a bunch of self-serving politicians performing a kabuki dance, posturing for the cameras and the microphones.

That is a sad commentary on our political system… for both Political Parties.

I happen to think there is potential for a serious security breech at our ports. It makes complete sense, to me, to do everything in our power to make it as nearly impossible for such a breech to occur as it is within our power to make it. That includes... not taking chances we do not absolutely have to take. The Ports Management deal falls into the latter category… anyway you look at it.

Maybe it’s because I’m sitting down here, in one of the Mid-Atlantic states, just a few short miles from one of our state's major ports, or… maybe it’s because I don’t have to cover my behind with labor unions, or various wings of the other political party, that I am not encumbered with the confusing haze of all the bloviating from the right wing, or the left wing, that I can see this proposed disaster as the average American sees it… a possible disaster in the making, an unnecessary gamble we needn’t take.

But, then, I’m just a little ole country boy, down here in the swamps of the South who doesn’t know the first thing about economics, or national and international politics! You think? You might be surprised.

This is one of those times when I wish, and hope, I am wrong. But, my true feeling is that after a few weeks of strutting before the cameras, the Ports Management Deal will be allowed to go through.

It sorta makes you aware of just how “at the mercy” of our politicians we truly are, doesn’t it.

I’m not going to forget this by November. Oh, no. And you shouldn’t either. That’s what that little booth is all about. I WILL register a protest there on that Tuesday morning. They can count on it!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Social security is certain to see its demise in 30 years or so. So, President Bush’s attempt to save this government program is timely.

The Democrats know all this. It is not a secret.

Here’s the problem: The Democrats fear the Republican Party is taking their program… their power base. They have worked long and hard, since FDR put his signature on the first Social Security Act, to create a class of people dependent on Social Security and therefore, dependent on the Democrat Party. Remember, Social Security is, as the name implies, a SOCIAL Program. Since the Democrat Party is, in fact, the Socialist Party in America, they feel they own this program. The Republicans, as they see it, are stealing Social Security right out from under them and, by doing so, the Republicans are further reducing the power of the Democrat Party with voters and, most especially, the Democrat Party’s base.

They’re right! The Republican Party intends to gut the Democrat Party and make the Democrats irrelevant, period.

The Democrats, on the other hand, are furious. They are fearful… and they have a right to be fearful. The American voter has heard the message of the Democrat Party and the American voters rejected it, outright. And they continue to reject it. Plus, voters have watched, and listened, as the Democrat Party has done nothing to gain the confidence of the voters and they vociferously play obstructionist games in Congress. They have been successful in creating an image in the voter’s minds of a Party, which cares nothing for the American people, or for the security of the country, and are concerned, only, with grabbing power and hanging on to it… at any cost.

That is what the American voter sees. The DNC is doing nothing to disabuse the voter of that image of their party, and are, in fact, bolstering it by moving Howard Dean into the leadership position in the DNC.

We have a bold President in George Bush. We have a leader. He is not afraid to strike out on his own. He leads from the front.

Americans admire a leader like Bush. He is the embodiment of the way Americans see themselves. Yes, to our Europeans “Weenie” detractors, George Bush is a “COWBOY”. What the “Old Worlders” fail to understand is… referring to an American, as a cowboy, is the highest praise. Thank you.

So, as the Democrat sun is setting, maybe they should look at themselves to learn the cause of their own demise. They are a deeply wounded political party…and the wounds are self-inflicted.

We wish the President “good luck” as he leads the country in yet another attack on the empty threats and equally empty promises of the Democrat Party.

Some one once said: “Leaders are like Eagles. They don’t flock. You find them one at a time.” Right!Longstreet

Saturday, February 25, 2006

There is an old expression, which goes something like this: “Dance with the one what brung you!”

It is my firm belief that Nascar’s Headquarters should have this “expression”, in the form of a sign, in very large red letters, permanently mounted over it’s front door! Maybe it would serve as a reminder that the folks who got Nascar where it is today are now being told to go to the back of the bus!

Now, I’m a Southerner (By the Grace of God!). I’m a dues paying member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a native South Carolinian, and a resident of North Carolina.

The Granddaddy of the Nascar tracks (Darlington Speedway) is just an hour from my hometown. Here in North Carolina we have two major speedways one at Charlotte and the other at Rockingham, NC.

In my younger days, I was a member of Nascar, a track announcer. I have spent many hours around Speedways enjoying myself beneath the fluttering folds of the Confederate Battle Flag at those racetracks. That flag was displayed as a sign of our Southern Pride… at a “Southern Event”. Many windshields, on the cars of Southern race fans, would display the logo depicting a checked flag crossed with the Confederate Battle Flag. The CBF was a part of the festivities surrounding race day, race week, and the many activities of the infield of the Southern tracks.

No more. Nascar has turned it’s back on the very fans who gave birth to the sport which has made millions for Nascar and the France family. Nascar has effectively told those fans they are no longer welcome at a Nascar sanctioned event.

These days Nascar is discouraging the display of Confederate Battle Flags at the races. They are even going so far as to have “flag exchanges” at which they encourage fans to exchange their CBF for a racing team’s flag, or colors. The press is reporting that now Nascar is promoting “Mexican flags” in the place of Confederate Battle Flags in the stands.

Why? Good question.

A new arrival on the Nascar tracks is a Mexican driver by the name of Adrian Fernandez. I have seen reports, which refer to him as the “Dale Earnhardt of Mexico!”

The thing is, race fans, Mexico had not a thing to do with the birth and sustenance of Nascar! Nothing! The South had everything to do with it.

Stock car racing began, with bootleggers, running illegal booze (White Lightening) through the winding, mountain, roads of the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and other Southern States. The “good ole boys” began racing each other, instead of running from the taxman, on a handful of dirt tracks, scraped out of the hard red clay of the Southeastern states. Friends and neighbors would gather on Saturdays, or Sundays, to watch the local “rum runners” display their car handling skills. Somebody, somewhere, hit upon the idea of charging those folks to watch the fun. They paid gladly… and have been paying ever since. Thus was born the “Southern Sport of Stock Car Racing”. It is a part of the lore and legends of the South. Indeed, it is a part of Southern Culture. At least… it has been.

Now, Nascar is taking Stock Car Racing away from the very creators of the sport, indeed, of the business, from which their millions have come. Talk about ingratitude! It doesn’t get worse than this!

That beautiful old flag, with the St Andrews Cross upon it, that flag under which so many Southerners gave their lives, is a part of Southern Heritage and Southern Culture. That flag, race fans, will still be flying when the last Nascar sign is torn down and burned on the garbage heap of history.

The groans from the “greats of racing” such as: Fireball Roberts, Little Joe Weatherly, Tiny Lund, Possum Jones, and so many, many, more, can be heard over the scream of the high performance engines on today’s Nascar tracks. Disbelief rolls through the ranks of the “long passed” drivers whose ghosts still haunt the red clay tracks in the small Southern towns and the super speedways of the big cities here in the South.

Nascar has forgotten “who brung ‘em”. It seems, it simply doesn’t matter to them anymore. But it matters to us… the Southerners who find they are no longer welcome at what used to be a Southern Cultural Event.

To discourage, or refuse, the Confederate Battle Flag at a Stock Car race is tantamount to discouraging entry to, and attendance by, Southerners. That flag represents who we were… and who we are. Southerners! We are a unique people on this continent. A people proud of who we are, and proud of our Heritage and our Culture.

Nascar has reached its “high water mark”. It has nowhere to go now, but down. It is time, past time, for another Stock Car Racing Sanctioning organization to come forward and show respect for the creators of the sport and gratitude for the fan’s support. Southern racing fans will embrace them with warm and welcoming arms.

In the meantime, Southern racing fans should boycott Nascar events. The only way one can bring meaningful pressure to bear, on an organization as large as Nascar, is through their wallets.

It’s time for Southerners to reclaim their sport, reclaim that part of our heritage and culture, and proudly, wave the Confederate Battle Flag while doing it.

As a member of the US Army, I was in the Artillery. One the great reminders hammered into us was: “Always remember… when you find the enemy within range of your guns… you, too, are in range of theirs!”

Friday, February 24, 2006

Some are calling our objection to the UAE company taking charge of management of our ports "Islamophobia".

OK, I can live with that.

On the right sidebar of this blogsite you will see a slide show, which should explain the “Islamophobia” in America.

Frankly, I don’t care what you call it; the fact remains that a company based in a Muslim country will have charge of the port management of six of our major ports.Isn’t it just a tad ignorant NOT to expect this kind of fear from a people whom Muslims have attacked many times, and, even now, vow to destroy? I must tell you. When someone tells me they intend to kill me and my family, I sit up and I take notice, and I do everything in my power to keep that from happening and… I sure as heck will not lend them a hand in my own murder, or the murder of my family, or my extended family, the people of America.

Somebody in the Administration really does have a tin ear when it comes to the feelings of the American people. This was, as I have said elsewhere, just plain dumb!

Call it what you will: Islamophobia, if that is your choice, I simply don’t care... and neither do the majority of Americans. We do not want a Muslim company managing the operations of our sea gates. We will not tolerate it and the politicians who support this dumb move will pay a heavy price at the polls in November… and in 2008.

Americans, for the most part have tried to smother their growing unease with the Muslim community among us. But it will only take a spark to ignite this barely controlled passion. Building a bonfire, as the Administration is insisting on doing, with this Port Management debacle, may turn into a conflagration that will burn throughout the nation.

All this can be avoided. It needn’t have happened in the first place.

Pull the plug on this deal and watch it circle the drain into oblivion. Put the US Military in charge of Port Management, until such time as they can train a willing American company to take charge.

Someone once said: "If you think health Insurancre is expensive now, wait 'til it's free!"“National Health Insurance” is one of the primary tools used by a government to control her people. That alone is enough for we to be whole-heartedly against it.

Now, lets get something straight… I believe the Health Insurance Companies, in America, deserve what they get. They have been, in my opinion, abusing their subscribers for entirely too long. Rates have risen thru the roof at an undeservedly fast pace. Sure medical costs have gone up, but not at the percentages your insurance premiums have gone up. This has to stop. But National Health Care is a cure worse than the disease.

More government in our lives is more than just a little bit scary. Once National Healthcare is implemented, and don’t get me wrong, I believe some form will be, your life will be under the control of the administrators of that insurance.

For Instance, lets say you have an obesity problem. You have developed a heart problem as a result of the obesity. You need treatment for your heart. National Health Care says: “OK, we will not pay for the heart treatment until you lose weight”. Or, they provide all citizens with a chart, approved by the FDA, of the “Approved Foods” all citizens should eat. They make it clear that if you cannot show proof of having ingested those “approved” foods, on a regular basis, also decided by them, you Health Insurance is no good. You will not receive treatment.

Or, another example, you may be allowed to have one child only. It must be a boy. (See China.) If you choose to have another baby, after the approved ONE, the costs will come out of your pocket. Get the picture?

Now, this does not take into account the reduced quality of care we will receive from the medical community. Their hearts will not be it. After 8 years. or so, in school, to learn their profession and they will become “salaried government employees”. Need I say more?

The left is hell-bent on imposing such a system on the citizens of this country. That is another reason we must refuse them power, ever again, in the Congress. At least in numbers large enough to affect legislation.

National Health Care is a Socialist dream. It is also a Conservative’s worst nightmare.

We must be on our guard, for some form of National Health Care is about to raise its ugly head in the Nation’s legislature. It is time for conservatives to exercise their power and stop it in its tracks as we did the “Clinton Care” attempt in the ‘90s.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

There are a lot of very smart people in Washington. But, occasionally, it appears, that many are educated “beyond their ability”! All the “smarts” in the world are useless without a smattering of common sense. There seems to be a severe lack of that commodity in DC right now.

For instance:

Giving management of six of this nation’s largest seaports to a company based in the Middle East is D-U-M-B!

Frankly, I don’t care if they are our friends… or not. This is a D-U-M-B decision.

Look, the government claims that even with the UAE company in charge of Port Management we will still have control of the security of those ports. Maybe. But how would our Security Specialists work with the management of a port without revealing our security plans and measures. In a few short weeks they will know every weakness, in our Port Security, and every strength, as well. Any fool can see that is a problem.

I cannot emphasize this enough: WE ARE AT WAR! As it happens some of the people we are at war with… are in the United Arab Emirates.

I am a short distance from one of North Carolina’s major ports and we are uncomfortable, here, not knowing just how secure WE are. Fortunately, The UAE company is not taking control of our local port. If they were, the government would have another “period of unpleasantness” similar to that of 1861!

Port security, on its best day, is nowhere near what it ought to be… under the very best of circumstances. Toss in the fact that at least two of the hijackers, who flew the planes into the Twin Towers, were from the UAE… and we, here at IoF, think we have a strong reason to be alarmed about this.

Economically, this is a very good "business deal". So far as America’s security is concerned, it is entirely too dangerous.

It’s time for some reason here. It’s time for the government to break up this deal and be done with it. And... the Congress is considering doing just that, at least, they are threatening a "speed-bump" piece of legislation to delay the pending deal until it can be investigated further. Predictably, the President is threatening a veto of such legislation.

This is one of those "Come to Jesus" moments in US history. IF the Congress does, in fact, pass legislation to delay the deal, and the President vetoes it, the President's veto will be overturned. It's just that simple.

There is some thought that there is much more about this deal which is "sub-rosa". Has the US made a preemptory deal with the UAE because the bombing of Iran is imminent? Could be. I'm convinced there is some reason, beyond that which is publicly known, which explains the reason the Administration is pressing so hard for closure of the deal.

Look, it has been understood for centuries that if you wish to control a country, any country, gain control of their “gates”. Our seaports are our “gates”.

This cannot be allowed.

In the meantime, would it not be advisable for some American companies to get involved in this business? No American company is involved in Port Management in this country, or elsewhere. If the United Arab Emirates have(has) figured out a way to make money at it, then, surely, American companies can do the same.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Freedom to worship as we please is one of the hallmarks of, and rights guaranteed to, the citizens of the United States.

The Pilgrims came to the New World not to guarantee freedom of religion. No, they came to guarantee that THEY could worship, as THEY saw fit… not, necessarily, anyone else.

So we have a hodge-podge of religions is America. Some are uplifting and others are just plain goofy.

On of the discoveries, made by anthropologists, is that the human animal will, somehow, create a religion. It seems the human animal must have belief in something that gives meaning to his, or her, existence.

In this century, and the last, so many have turned from the worship of a supreme being, we call God, to what we used to call “paganism”… the worship of nature, or the environment, or… more specifically… Environmentalism.

Yes, Environmentalism has become a religion. Well, actually, it always was, it has just come back into favor in the past 100 years, or so.

One thing I want to set straight before continuing: nature is not God. It is my belief that GOD created nature. Now, we can continue.

Many so-called atheists are worshippers of nature, or the environment. If one worships it… it is your god. Seems to me, those atheists are not true atheists. They DO have a god; only it is a pagan god, the environment.

Michael Crichton, in his “Environmentalism as Religion” remarks, made before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2003, summed it all up.

The believers in environmentalism believe and preach that we should live in unity with nature, or the environment. They believe that in the beginning we did. They believe that we are now living in sin because we have polluted the earth. We will be visited with a judgment day and the judgment will be death, for the whole planet, unless we repent, (which means to turn around and go the other way) and make our way back to sustainability. You see, in the environmentalism religion, sustainability IS salvation.

Michael Crichton, in his “Environmentalism as Religion” remarks, made before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2003, summed it all up.

It is important to understand that, for the most part, those who would worship nature have never really experienced it.

Want to go camping? Out comes the insect spray, the mosquito netting, the snakebite kit, the calamine lotion, sunscreen, and on and on. The urban environmentalist tends to think of nature as something with which man can live in harmony. So far, that has never happened … in the history of mankind. Animals eat other animals to stay alive. Then, of course, we humans, at the top of the food chain, eat the animals which ate the, you know, smaller animals. The weather is a constant threat to humans. The harmony of nature and man is a myth. It has never been so. If you want to learn about nature, talk to a farmer, or a hunter. They know about nature. Most people don’t.

Most of us live in an insular world. We have created an oasis away from nature. Occasionally, we think we want to "commune" with nature so we take a road trip or a camping trip… and we take as much of our amenities, right along with us, as we can cram in the SUV. If we actually come into contact with nature, it is by accident.

Man has always been at odds with nature. Nature is unforgiving. It will kill you in a split second.

So, the environmental religionists are calling for us to repent. We are doomed as a result of pollution, global warming, running out of oil, the whole list of tribulations the faithful are so sure are coming.

They have been wrong, so many times. Remember the ice age, which was to begin in the 1970’s? Where is it? Sorta like the nut pacing the sidewalk with his “Repent, the world is coming to an end” sign. When the world doesn’t end, he changes the date and keeps on pacing. The environmentalist simply changes the reason the world is coming to an end, and they keep on preaching doom and gloom.

You see, as with all religions, the environmentalist bases all these horrible things on faith. Yes, faith in his belief. He believes he is correct. It is his faith, his religion, and he will not be shaken.

So, we have all the preachers of the Church of Environmentalism, preaching at us none stop. They preach fear. They preach gloom and doom. They preach forsaking progress and returning to the days when man lived in harmony with nature, even though no such period ever existed in the history of mankind.

As a believer in one God, the Creator, I cannot buy into their religion. I believe that this planet, this ecosystem, if you will, was given to man, as his home, by the Creator. We are charged with being good stewards of our home. But, when we take such good care of it that we come to worship it, we have sinned and fallen short. And that, Dear Reader, is wrong!

To protect our home we need to use hard science, not some knee jerk reactionism. We need to rely upon our common sense. To think that man, himself, can destroy the earth is laughable. It is the height of arrogance. The earth can wipe humankind out in a moment, in the blinking of an eye. Like a dog shaking it’s wet coat and flinging water droplets hither and thither, the earth could rid itself of it’s temporary visitors at anytime.

No, it’s time for clear thinking people to step back and take a serious look at the claims the fundamentalist preachers of environmentalism are making. Check the science, not the pop science, but hard science. There is where their claims will be proven, or disproven and hopefully discarded.

In the meantime, for those who profess to believe in nature’s God, the scriptures tell us that man cannot serve two masters. You cannot subscribe to the faith of environmentalism and maintain your faith in the God of, and the creator of, nature. You will serve one and forsake the other. Which will it be?

Monday, February 20, 2006

One of the great American Presidents, overlooked each year, is President Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. Here, atIoF, we thought we'd remedy that this year. So, for the edification of our readers here is the biography of President Jefferson Davis on this President's day, 2006!

Jefferson DavisThe marriage proved short. The newlyweds both contracted malaria, and Davis's wife died three months after the wedding at the Louisiana home of his sister. Davis recovered, sailing for Havana, Cuba, and then to New York City. In 1836, he retired to Brierfield Plantation in Warren County, Mississippi.It is of particular note that Davis did not run his plantation in the manner of most southern slaveholders of the era. One of his favorite slaves was overseer of the plantation. Additionally, whippings were banned on plantation grounds, justice was administered by slave "courts" which decided guilt or innocence for "crimes" and then decided punishments. They were free to choose a variety of punishments including a warning, extra labor, etc., but whippings were not an allowable punishment. Furthermore slaves were allowed to grow their own food in their own personal gardens (and were expected to); were given chickens to collect eggs from which they were allowed to sell for a profit, and were allowed to supplement their garden food with as much food as needed from plantation stores whenever they needed it. These were not particularly common trends in this era.The subsequent years proved uneventful, as Davis supervised the production of cotton at Brierfield, and studied political science. He decided to put his studies to use in 1843, by entering a career in politics. He ran for the Mississippi House of Representatives as a Democrat, and engaged in a debate with his opponent, Seargent Smith Prentiss, on election day. However, Davis's efforts proved unsuccessful, and he lost the election. The next year, he traveled around Mississippi campaigning for James K. Polk and George M. Dallas in the presidential election of 1844.The year 1844 saw Davis's first political success, as he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, taking office on March 4 of the following year.He married again on February 26, 1845, this time to the socially prominent Varina Howell.[edit]Second military career

Statue of Jefferson DavisThe year 1846 saw the beginning of the Mexican-American War. Davis must have looked favorably upon the war, seeing that the U.S. stood to acquire a considerable amount of land south of the Missouri Compromise line. He resigned his House seat in June, and raised a volunteer regiment, the Mississippi Rifles, becoming its colonel. On July 21 they sailed from New Orleans for the Texas coast.This regiment was of particular note in that Davis armed it with percussion rifles and trained the regiment in their use; making the regiment particularly effective in combat.In September of the same year, he participated in the successful siege of Monterrey, Mexico. He fought bravely at the Buena Vista, Mexico on February 22, 1847, and was shot in the foot. In recognition of his bravery and initiative, commanding general Zachary Taylor is reputed to have said, "My daughter, sir, was a better judge of men than I was."President James K. Polk offered him a federal commission as a Brigadier General and command of a brigade of militia. He declined the appointment, arguing that the United States Constitution gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, and not to the federal government.Because of his war service, the governor of Mississippi appointed Davis to fill out the Senate term of the late Jesse Speight. He took his seat 5 December1847 and was elected to serve the remainder of his term in January 1848. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution appointed him a regent at the end of December 1847.[edit]Return to politicsThe Senate made Davis chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. When his term expired, he was elected to the same seat (by the Mississippi legislature, as the Constitution mandated at the time). He had not served a year when he resigned (in September 1851) to run for the governorship of Mississippi on the issue of the Compromise of 1850, which Davis opposed. This election bid was unsuccessful, as he was defeated by Henry Stuart Foote by 999 votes.Left without political office, Davis continued his political activity. He took part in a convention on states rights, held at Jackson, Mississippi in January 1852. In the weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential election, 1852, he campaigned in a number of Southern states for Democratic candidates Franklin Pierce and William R. King.Pierce won the election and made Davis his Secretary of War. In this capacity, Davis gave to Congress four annual reports (in December of each year), as well as an elaborate one (submitted on February 22, 1855) on various routes for the proposed Transcontinental Railroad. The Pierce administration ended in 1857. The president lost the Democratic nomination, which went instead to James Buchanan. Davis's term was to end with Pierce's, so he ran successfully for the Senate, and re-entered it on March 4, 1857.His renewed service in the Senate was interrupted by an illness that threatened him with the loss of his left eye. Still nominally serving in the Senate, Davis spent the summer of 1858 in Portland, Maine. On the Fourth of July, he delivered an anti-secessionist speech on board a ship near Boston. He again urged the preservation of the Union on October 11 in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and returned to the Senate soon after.On February 2, 1860, as secessionist clamor in the South grew ever louder, Davis submitted six resolutions in an attempt to consolidate opinion regarding states' rights, and to further his own position on the issue. Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, won the presidency that November. Matters came to a head, and South Carolina seceded from the Union.Though an opponent of secession in principle, Davis upheld it in practice on January 10, 1861. On January 21, 1861, he announced the secession of Mississippi, delivered a farewell address, and resigned from the Senate.

Confederate White HouseIn August 1863, Davis declined General Lee's offer of resignation after his defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg. As Confederate military fortunes turned for the worse in 1864, he visited Georgia with the intent of raising morale.Davis has received criticism over his conduct of the military affairs of the Confederacy. Until late in the war, he resisted efforts to appoint a general-in-chief, essentially handling those duties himself; on January 31, 1865, Lee assumed this role, but it was far too late for him to establish a grand strategy that could achieve success. Davis was responsible for the strategy of defending all Southern territory with ostensiblyequal effort, which diluted the limited resources of the South and made it vulnerable to coordinated strategic thrusts by the Union into the vital Western Theater. He made other poor strategic choices, such as allowing Lee to invade the North on two occasions while the Western armies were losing battles and critical terrain, such as the Mississippi River. He also has been faulted for poor coordination and management of his generals in the field, notably in his reluctance to relieve his personal friend, Braxton Bragg, defeated in important battles and distrusted by his subordinates; he relieved the cautious but capable Joseph E. Johnston and replaced him with the reckless John Bell Hood, resulting in the loss of Atlanta and the eventual loss of an army.On April 3, 1865, with Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant poised to capture Richmond, Davis escaped for Danville, Virginia, together with the Confederate cabinet, leaving on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The beleaguered executive stayed in the home of Maj. William T. Sutherlin. It was here where Davis would pen his last official proclamation as President of the Confederacy. Six days after his flight to Danville, he proceeded to Greensboro, North Carolina. On April 16, he made a break for Meridian, Mississippi, but was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on May 10 with Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan and former Texas governor Francis R. Lubbock.Imprisonment and retirementOn May 19, 1865, he was imprisoned in a casemate at Fortress Monroe, on the coast of Virginia. The casemate was wet, unheated, and open to the weather, leading many to believe that his captors intended him to die in prison. He was placed in irons on the 23rd, but released from irons on the 26th at the recommendation of a physician. Davis was not indicted for treason until a year later (May 1866) due to the constitutional concerns of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase.While in prison Davis arranged to sell his Mississippi estate to one of his former slaves, Ben Montgomery. Montgomery was a talented business manager, mechanic, and even inventor who had become wealthy in part from running his own general store.The next year, after imprisonment of two years, he was released on bail which was posted by prominent citizens of both northern and southern states, including Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had become convinced he was being treated unfairly. He visited Canada, and sailed for New Orleans, Louisiana, via Havana, Cuba. In 1868, he traveled to Europe. That December, the court rejected a motion to nullify the indictment, but the prosecution dropped the case in February 1869.That same year, Davis became president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company in Memphis, Tennessee. Upon Robert E. Lee's death in 1870, Davis presided over the memorial meeting in Richmond. Elected to the U.S. Senate again, he refused the office in 1875, having been barred from federal office by law.In 1876, he promoted a society for the stimulation of U.S. trade with South America. Davis visited England the next year, returning in 1878 to Beauvoir near Biloxi, Mississippi. Over the next three years there, Davis wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Having completed that book, he visited Europe again, and traveled to Alabama and Georgia the following year.He completed A Short History of the Confederate States of America in October 1889. Davis died in New Orleans at the age of eighty-one. His funeral was one of the largest ever staged in the South. He is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution barred from office anyone who had violated their oath to protect the Constitution by serving in the Confederacy. That prohibition included Davis. In 1978, pursuant to authority granted to Congress under the same section of the Amendment, Congress posthumously removed the ban on Davis with a two-thirds vote of each house and President Jimmy Carter signed it. These actions were spearheaded by Congressman Trent Lott of Mississippi. Congress had previously taken similar action on behalf of Robert E. Lee.A monument to Jefferson Davis was unveiled on June 3, 1907 on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.The state of Alabama celebrates Davis' birthday on the first Monday in June. The state of Mississippi observes Davis' birthday in conjunction with the Memorial Day Federal holiday.

About Me

J. D. Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.